Obama national security team to brief senators on Syria

12:01 PM,
Aug. 31, 2013

Palestinians hold Syrian flags and pictures of Syrian President Bashar Assad and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah during a protest against a possible military attack by the United States on Syria, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2013. Arabic sign reads, "The United States is the first sponsor of terrorism." The U.N. experts investigating last week's alleged chemical weapons strike outside Damascus left Syria and crossed into neighboring Lebanon early Saturday, departing hours after President Barack Obama said he is weighing "limited and narrow" action against a Syrian regime that the administration has accused of launching the deadly attack.

Written by

Aamer Madhani and William Cummings
USA TODAY

The Obama administration is continuing its sales pitch to Congress to get behind a potential military strike against Syria today, hours after U.N. weapons inspectors left the country amid high anticipation of an imminent U.S. attack.

The president's national security team agreed to brief the entire Senate Republican conference on Syria at the request of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, according to the Kentucky lawmaker's spokesman, Don Stewart.

The afternoon telephone briefing, set to begin at 1 p.m., follows a classified briefing for some lawmakers by Secretary of State ...